The Lioness Ascendant
by beachglass5387
Summary: Brienne and Jaime as Lord and Lady of Casterly Rock. curtain!fic written for Summer Exchange at jaimexbrienne on LJ.


**The Lioness Ascendant**

"You'll be Brienne of Tarth, I suppose. Brienne Lannister now that you're married to my nephew. Hmm. Good to finally lay eyes of you. You're a plain woman, but I suppose that doesn't matter. If there's an unfortunate trait in this world that Jaime isn't prepared to overlook in the name of love, I'm sure I don't know what it is. But I've never heard anything worse said about you than that you're homely, so I suppose that there's much to be grateful for," the woman said. She had stopped Brienne in the doorway before she could enter the Great Hall for dinner with rather more force than Brienne would have expected of a matronly blonde woman.

"You're Jaime's Frey aunt?" Brienne asked coolly. The woman's coloring made it clear she was a Lannister. Each day more of them seemed to come to meet the new Lady of Casterly Rock. Brienne couldn't tell what they thought of her – if they were disappointed, as she imagined they must be, they mostly hid it well. Jaime said that they were all annoyed that he had inherited the Rock, but too eager to curry favor to grumble about it where either of them could hear.

The woman smiled and Brienne noted again how odd it was to see Jaime's expressions on other people's faces. "Being married to a Frey doesn't make me one. _I'm _a Lannister. Your Aunt Genna. I'm sure you've been told I was arriving today. Gods above child, don't look so frightened. When I heard that you rode into war beside my nephew I didn't think you'd be the type to let an old woman scare you!"

"I'm not frightened," Brienne lied. It was only truly starting to dawn on her what marrying Jaime actually meant. It wasn't just her and Jaime as it had been for so long during the wars. It was her, Jaime, an almost comically large slew of relatives, a giant estate, and the ridiculous prospect of being the Lady of Casterly Rock.

"Good," Lady Genna said, nodding. "Because Lannisters are never frightened when they are home at Casterly Rock."

Brienne couldn't tell if the woman was serious or not. "And does marrying a Lannister make me one?" She asked, feigning a boldness that she did not feel.

"Ha! You know, I might like you," the other woman said, looking still looking her up and down. "Didn't think I would. Who knew Jaime would be so surprising? I've always been fond of him, but that boy had his head in the clouds until life in King's Landing pulled him down into the mud. You may not be much to look at, but you seem a brave, capable sort of woman. Maybe you'll be able to convince him there's good solid ground in between to walk on."

Brienne wasn't sure if she should thank the woman or try to defend Jaime. She opened and closed her mouth, then finally said "I hope I may be of use at Casterly Rock."

"I'm sure you'll be of use. Wives nearly almost always are," Lady Genna looked meaningfully at Brienne in a way that made her blush. "Anyway, sweetling, never mind that now. It's high time Casterly Rock had a proper Lord and Lady ruling it again. I can help you learn the running if the estate and, if you've a mind to learn, teach you a trick or two for the running of husbands." She reached out to squeeze Brienne's hand before turning to enter the Great Hall, leaving the younger woman slightly dazed.

Brienne followed slowly and watched Genna Lannister make her way over to the high table. She could not hear what was said, but she saw Jaime scramble to his feet to hug his aunt, and then wince as she reached up to twist his ear. Brienne found herself smiling. She had not grown up with a large family and she was finding that she enjoyed their familiar chatter with each other, even if she was on the periphery.

As Genna moved away, Brienne took the remaining steps up to the table. All of the men stood up as she approached. This bit of courtesy still made her feel ridiculous; she was dressed as they were and would likely meet them in the practice yards. All eyes on the hall on her, she quickly went to her seat on the raised dais beside Jaime.

"My lady," he said, bowing slightly. Brienne could hear the held back laughter in his voice. He thought that her discomfort with the rituals of being the Lady of Casterly Rock was hilarious.

"My lord," she replied, bowing back. She refused to curtsey. They both sat and Jaime gestured that to the servants to start bringing out the food. As everyone's attention returned back to their conversations and their arriving food, Brienne glanced over at Jaime. He was staring fixedly down at his plate, clearly trying to control the large grin spreading across his face. He caught her looking and turned to face her, eyebrows raised.

"Brienne, I'm not laughing," he said hastily. "As agreed."

One morning, on the journey to Casterly Rock, she had been feeling especially bold and she had prevailed on him to promise not to laugh at her, no matter how foolish she looked while pretending to be a lady.

"But you won't be pretending," he had said. She had scowled at him until he had relented.

"Very well," he had leaned over her then, his chest pressing into hers and she had wondered if she would ever get used to the feeling of hair against her breasts. She watched, curious, as he reached down to the ground and closed his fingers around Oathkeeper's hilt. "Here," he said, leaning back and holding the sword aloft above them. "I swear on this blade that I will not laugh at you, my lady wife, as you acclimate yourself to life amongst the lions. Will that ease your fears?"

He had grinned down at her and she had realized that his movements had pulled the blanket almost down to her hips. She had blushed and pulled the blanket up to cover herself; his grin had widened. "I was told never to trust the promises men make while unclothed," she had said.

"I trust you've never had the opportunity to test the truth of those words before," he mocked. She had scowled at him again.

"Well, I know for a certainty not to trust the words of naked women. Nonetheless, I'd like you to swear something in return." He had held out Oathkeeper to her and she took the blade uncertainly. "You must promise not to look at me like that while I make what I imagine will be a series of poor judgments in my first days as Lord of the Rock."

Brienne had wrinkled her nose. "Look at you like what?" she had asked.

"Like I have shattered every illusion you ever had about honor and chivalry." Brienne had been surprised to discover that he thought she had such a look.

"You haven't," she had said, confused. He had kissed her then and reached down to cup one of her small breasts in his hand.

She flushed, remembering what followed.

"What are you thinking of?" Jaime asked, leaning closer to her.

"I met your Aunt Genna," Brienne said hastily. She still wasn't used to the easy way he touched her when other people were about. Or to the things that he dared to say to her.

He smiled knowingly at her but accepted the change in subject. "Yes. She's rather upset that a more formal introduction wasn't arranged. Apparently I should have taken time out from sorting out the squabbles of our bannermen to put together something with music or banners or some such nonsense."

"Is that why she twisted your ear?" Brienne ventured, curious.

"No," Jaime sighed. "She almost always does that."

"She seems..." Brienne started.

"Domineering? She means well. At least, that's what I've been telling myself."

"Did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Settle the disagreement between House Broom and House Prester?"

Jaime sighed and reached for his goblet. "More or less. How did you get on with the guardsmen?"

"They seem…they seem to have been very fond of your father."

"You mean they were fond of his bribes and the work he gave them as his personal bully boys."

Brienne ripped off a piece of bread and took a deep breath. "I dismissed a quarter of them." It was not usually a lady's place to do such a thing, but when they had divided up tasks for the day it hadn't seemed to matter much to him. She hoped that he would not wake up one day and want a more conventional lady instead of one who was more comfortable as a soldier.

"Did you? With your sense of honor I'm surprised that you didn't send the whole lot packing."

Brienne shrugged. "I did not think that we could replace all of them so quickly. I thought we might be able to put out word in the surrounding towns that we are going to take on some of the local boys and train them as guardsmen."

"Creating a force loyal to us and generating the goodwill of the smallfolk? It would seem _you_ actually listened to _your _father when he talked of the running of estates," Jaime smiled at her.

Brienne ducked her head. She had listened to her father, but she had also watched Jaime run an army and had gotten the idea about the guardsmen from trying to think of what he would do. "I try to listen to everyone," she said.

Jaime laughed. "And then stubbornly do exactly as you please. I told you that life as Lady of the Rock would suit you."

Brienne ignored that. "Jaime, what happened with Broom and Prester?"

"Not to worry," he said. "They rage like children but will go home happy enough, though doubtless not as soon as we could hope. I've told Ser Forley that that no amount of appreciation for his services during the war will induce me to allow him to expand his guard even if I hear that Lord Broom is standing outside of his chambers with a trebuchet. He may apply to us for support if House Broom is ever foolish enough to try to take back that strip of land by force. Then I told Lord Broom I agree that House Prester owes him tax as per the original agreement for use of the land, but that until such time as House Broom sees fit to pay the taxes it owes House Lannister, I shall overlook Ser Forley's delinquency." He sighed. "Gods, it's boring to talk of taxes and farming. We should have run away and become hedgeknights."

"Westeros has enough roving warriors," Brienne said. She and Jaime had a hard road ahead of them ensuring the continued safety and prosperity of the Westerlands. It was a duty that Brienne took seriously and she knew, for all his complaining about hating politics and being bored, that Jaime did as well.

"In that case, maybe _you_ should listen to Ser Flement Brax whine about mining rights tomorrow and _I'll_ speak with Ser Benedict about enlisting new guardsmen," Jaime said.

"The lords expect you to treat with them, Jaime. You're the Lord of Casterly Rock and I'm-"

"The Lady of Casterly Rock," he finished, shrugging. "Who cares what they expect? We outrank everyone here. We're above expectations."

It was an attitude Brienne was hoped she would be able to adopt one day; she had never done as people expected, but still had trouble seeing it as a right rather than an oddity.

"I don't know anything about mining," she said, cutting off a piece of meat.

"Neither does Ser Flement," Jaime said, ripping off a chunk of bread with some difficulty. Brienne knew better than to offer to help. "Westermen never let lack of information stop them from talking."

"I know," Brienne said, looking pointedly at him.

"Anyway," he said, deliberately ignoring her implication, "it's not as if you don't already know our meat-headed bannermen. You fought alongside them and, if truth be told, they're more likely to take your word than mine."

Brienne had not considered that. "I…I…" She started, half wishing she could deny the truth of his words.

"You have a reputation for honor and honesty," he interjected, raising his eyebrows again and grinning at her, "only sullied by marrying the dishonorable Kingslayer."

"I would not have married you if that I thought that was true that you were dishonorable,'' she said seriously. Before she could register what was happening, he leaned over and kissed her - a real kiss, with intent behind it and his tongue pressing against hers. Momentarily, she forgot all of the onlookers and kissed him back. A cheer went up in the hall and several knights called out lewd remarks. When he drew back, Brienne's face was red and she was shocked to find that her hands were tangled in in the front of his tunic. She let him go immediately and he laughed.

"You promised…"she said, gladder than ever that their chairs were set far enough apart from the others that they could not be easily overheard.

"I promised not to laugh at you. I'm not. A man can laugh for other reasons than mockery, you know," he said.

Brienne looked around the hall. Most people had returned to their attention to their own companions, but several of the ladies were still staring at her with disapproval. As she looked away from them, Lady Genna caught her eye and, smiling at her, winked. To her surprise, Brienne found herself grinning. The older woman leaned forward to stare at the ladies still glaring at Brienne, and then looked back at her new niece, shrugged, and mouthed "jealous." Brienne blushed as Genna turned back to her dinner companion, a lord of middling years, and laughed uproariously at something he had said.

It had never occurred to Brienne that anyone could be jealous of her. She looked down at her plate, thinking that Lady – Aunt Genna must simply be trying to be kind. This thought pleased Brienne well enough, but unbidden, the thought that Aunt Genna might be right slowly crept into her mind. She looked over at Jaime, who was now talking to a knight who had wandered over to the table to ask him about something to do with war hammers.

As she watched the conversation, she thought about the last ten years of her life – she had avoided two bad marriages, learned to fight as well as any man, rescued ladies, protected smallfolk, led troops into war, and, when all the fighting was done, married a man of her choosing – and not just any man, she had married _Jaime_. What other lady could claim same? Brienne looked back at the women, still darting glances at her and whispering to each other. She smiled at them and returned their stares until it was they who looked down blushing. She felt as triumphant as she did when she won a practice bout. She ate quietly, musing on this new revelation, as the clatter of the Great Hall continued on around her.

"My lady?" It was Jaime's voice that finally broke into her reverie.

"Yes," Brienne said, turning to look at him again. She noticed that dishes were being cleared. "Oh," she said, rising to her feet. Jaime followed her, as did many of the other lord and ladies in the Hall, no doubt hoping to catch a moment with their overlord before he retired for the night.

"Ser Tytos said he would find us after the meal to talk about the difficulties he is having with the markets in Lannisport," Brienne reminded Jaime, eyeing the crowd of people trying to surreptitiously move closer to them. "I still don't know what to say to him. Do you?"

"Hedgeknights," Jaime muttered against her ear. She smiled at him and he sighed. "I think we had better leave Lannisport until tomorrow to sort out. Or to the next Lord of Casterly Rock. We do have duties other than mediating their disputes, you know," he said, looking at her in a way that made her heart beat speed up.

"Then we had better leave now," Brienne said, moving to the door and trying to pretend that she had not seen Ser Tytos attempting to disengage himself from his conversation with one of the Crakehalls. She was as tired as Jaime of being trapped in the Great Hall listening to complaints and suggestions until the middle of the night. They made it as far as the corridor before the first wave of knights and lords managed to catch up with them.

"Jaime! My lady," a man called after them. Jaime stopped, and, with a resigned look, turned.

"Flement," he said.

"Good I was able to catch you. Damn large crush of people. Now, before the meal I was just about to tell you about the ore that-"

"Ser Flement," Brienne interrupted. "Jaime tells me you have concerns about your mining rights. I would be happy to discuss them with you tomorrow morning."

Ser Flement's eyes flicked quickly to Jaime, but then he bowed. "Excellent, my lady. I'm sure you'll find that I have a very compelling case that-"

"Yes, yes," said Jaime, sounding irritated. "I'm sure it will be all the more compelling for waiting for the morning. It is not as though-"

"Ser Flement," Brienne interjected again. She recognized Jaime's tone and expression and knew he was about to say something incredibly rude. "You have my word that I will ride with you in the morning and talk about the mines with you then."

"Of course, my lady," Ser Flement said, seeming to hear the finality in the tone.

Brienne turned and Jaime followed her part way down the corridor before stopping to speak. "So," he said, "you'll treat with the bannermen after all?"

"Yes," she said simply. "I know that ladies do not usually-"

"I married you because I don't want a Lady who does as ladies usually do," he said.

Then, before she could consider her actions too carefully, she grabbed his arm and pressed him into the wall, kissing him fiercely. When she drew back, Jaime tightened his grip on the side of her tunic. She could hear the lords at the end of the corridor chuckling, but for once she did not care. She smiled at him and he stared at her, his eyes wider than usual and his breathing heavy. "In repayment for the kiss in the Great Hall," she said, stepping back. "I've been told that we always pay our debts."

She expected that he would laugh, but instead he smiled and there was nothing mocking in his grin. "Aunt Genna was right," he said. "You will be a Lannister."

Brienne nodded and smiled at him. "I don't mind," she said. They both laughed.


End file.
